O's lose 6th straight; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

On a water-soaked field in Cleveland, the Baltimore Orioles fell under .500 overall with their 6th consecutive loss.

The Good:

1) In the 2nd inning, Guthrie had allowed a walk, single, FC, single, and a double to fall behind 2-0, with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. He then came back to strikeout Hannahan, and Brantley to end the inning. It wound up being a poor outing for Guthrie, but I appreciated that he kept fighting there.

2) Good for Fox for getting the O's on the board with his HR in the 3rd. I enjoy Fox's mindset. I'm going to look for a something to drive, and I'm going to crash into the ball. Several of the everyday players would be well served by just adopting this approach.

3) Solid play by Jones in the 4th. Wasn't a great play, but he covered a solid amount of ground and showed some hops at the wall.

4) Was good to see Scott's first HR. He was more consistent in 2010, but we all know how scoring he can get when he starts to feel it.

4a) What a beautiful catch from Scott to the LF line in the 7th.

5) Two hits for Andino.

The Bad:

1) In the 2nd inning, Fox was charged with a passed ball. This allowed Santana (who started the inning with a walk) to move up to second base. I thought that was a difficult passed ball for Fox, as he had set up outside and the pitch came back across inside. Still, you have to think that Wieters makes that play.

1a) In the 4th, Fox just completely missed a ball which again allowed a runner to advance a base.

1b) On the Orioles Hangout message board today, there was talk wondering if Craig Tatum would be joining the O's in the near term. If Tatum is recalled my basic thought is that Tatum must call a great game considering he had trouble throwing anyone out last year, and can not hit with any authority. Additionally, with Hardy out, you are playing Izturis or Andino everyday. While Izturis has had a handful of good ab's so far, he was basically the worst everyday player in '10. I think this offense will become at-least league avg, but right now they are not hitting. If you are not hitting collectively, giving additional PT to Tatum does not seem like a great idea. If the O's worry about Fox's pitch selection, the bench can call the pitches.

2) After cutting into the Cleveland lead in the top of the 3rd with Fox's HR, Guthrie allowed the Indians to score four more runs in the lower-half of that inning. The Indians were not fooled by anything Guthrie had to offer today.

3) Up with the bases-loaded and 1 out in the 5th, Roberts was looking for a ball he could drive. He needed to get at-least one run back there and cut into the lead. The pop-up was a missed opportunity.

3a) As was the Markakis ground-out to end the inning.

4) Gonzalez allowed a 2 run homer in the 7th to O. Cabrera which again took the O's out of the game.

5) Reynolds was charged with an error in the 8th on a throw, I think Lee should have received the error for not making the catch.

The Ugly:

1) It was a team loss today, the O's failed to get needed hits when they had runners in scoring-position, while Guthrie and Gonzalez both allowed the game to get away from the Birds.